Hold on to your love handles

I will confess that I used to love Jane magazine and was very sad when it went out of print. (I sadly missed out on the whole Sassy thing, probably because when I was in junior high, I wasn’t cool enough for anyone to tell me it existed.) But I loved Jane. I know that […]

Movie actors gain and lose weight for roles all the time. Remember when Russell Crowe gained weight for A Beautiful Mind, or Renee Zellweger did for Bridget Jones (and it was a way bigger deal because she’s a woman, even though she was a size ten at most, but that’s another story)? While Friends had […]

BFDiva Laurie sent me a very exciting email recently: she’s been chosen to be on TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss. It is a spinoff of their Say Yes to the Dress series, and it’s about, as you may guess, shopping for a wedding dress. The Big Bliss spinoff focuses on plus-sized brides. […]

melissa mccarthy , a photo by mo pie on Flickr. Character: Megan, played by Melissa McCarthy Credits: Before Bridesmaids, probably best known for Gilmore Girls and Mike & Molly, though she started off in the Groundlings. As far as her reputation among comics goes, this interview is worth reading. Plot points: Megan is one of […]

Adorable 19-year-old Ashley Kauffman was separated from her skinny friends and told by an usher she was “too big” to sit in the front row of the American Idol studio audience. She had been given free tickets to attend the filming of American Idol and was understandably excited. But 19-year-old Ashley Kauffman’s joy soon turned […]

Hi everyone out there in BFD land! I certainly have missed you. And how has everyone been? Do we have stuff to catch up on or what? I guess I should first explain why I went away so abruptly and without explanation. Well, it’s Wigburg’s fault. Wigburg, who is currently, even as I type this, […]

Remember back when Glamour had the Girl on the Bottom of Page 194 Lizzie Miller? It seems that we take two steps forward and three steps back when it comes to the glossies. Witness this latest post on Marie Claire’s sex and love blog, straight (and apparently without being vetted by a sane editor) from […]

A Sunday morning ritual at Casa Bix involves a cup of coffee, the New York Times and a pug in my lap and Food Network on the TV, where Esteban and I provide a running MST3K commentary on Sandra Lee and Rachael Ray. We love Ina the most, mostly because unlike several TV chefs, her […]

1. Kirstie Alley’s new “weight loss program” is probably based on lies, according to the ever-reliable National Enquirer. (Hey, they were right about John Edwards.) (Note: the article uses slightly fat-phobic language.) [Alley] recently bragged on her Twitter site that she’s lost 50 pounds with exercise and her Organic Liaison weight-loss program. But those close […]

We’ve talked about how much we love Mindy Kaling here before. In this great interview, she talks about the problem with writing realistic women characters and the rom-com she’s writing and how much she loves You’ve Got Mail (me TOO! OMG Mindy Kaling, let’s be bffs!) She touches upon this interesting trope of the fictionalized […]

Just a quick post to remind everyone that Mike & Molly begins tonight, and the reviews are coming in. Linda Holmes at NPR: It has a lot of dumb jokes and broad (har har) portrayals, and everyone in the writers’ room should do 20 laps for the moment where two fat guys don’t know enough […]

The title of this article, “Finding Fat Lit,” is promising. I was like, yeah! We need more fat characters! And then I read the article. Matt Stewart, who describes himself at his heaviest as “a hideous 239 pounds,” wants books about fat people—but only the ones who are trying to lose weight. Millions of Americans […]

So I was over at a friend’s house watching Project Runway last night, and I immediately knew I’d have to come home and write a quick post about it. So, they did their “real woman” challenge again where, instead of models, they have regular women to design for. In this case, it was women wearing […]

Oh, celebrities. Or “celebrities,” if you prefer, since we’re talking about two of the Real Housewives, a phenomenon which I can’t even go into, since I don’t understand it at all. Anyway, two of these “housewives” shared their diets with two different tabloids last week. While posing for pictures in bikinis. Ready? Michaele Salahi poses […]

1. Photographic proof that fat people existed in the past, from Manolo for the Big Girl. Some really cool pictures. 2. Lesley at Fatshionista is doing Huge recaps, and tackles the latest episode here. Also, the cast signs a Body Peace Treaty, but… there are some problems, as The Rotund explains: “Oh, hi, y’all, love […]

Bravo has been showing commercials for a new show called Thintervention. Just the title alone makes me want to dry heave. One of my favorite Twitter friends, @GinAndPopcorn, sent me this link, describing the show thusly: The new series is Thintervention—yes, that’s it’s real name, not Andy Cohen screwing with us—“will track the stories of […]

We recently talked about how relatively minor incidents can sometimes feel much more significant than they really are. There are a lot of thought-provoking stories in the comments and I urge you to check out the comments thread if you haven’t had a chance lately. I was reminded of that conversation today when I was […]

This seems to be the week for celebrity women to advocate for body positivity—or at least, it’s the week I found all these links! First off, from Becky on Twitter comes this story about Penelope Cruz, who says you don’t have to be thin to be pretty. “I would close down all those teenage magazines […]

First off, on the topic of Alastair’s sexuality and queer themes in general, this Advocate interview is a great read; thanks for the link, Jack Daniels! (If you missed that conversation, it’s in last week’s comments.) And now, on with the show! I’m very excited about the title, can I just say that? There will […]

Or, why “just take in fewer calories than you burn” is not quite that simple. Katsyuri sent in this Newsweek article, discussing how intestinal bacteria may affect the number of calories the body is able to absorb. More efficient bacteria = more calories absorbed = more “calories in” than average. The calories that count are […]

I’m about to sit down and watch my first episode of Huge! While I was away, I seem to have forgotten to DVR it, so I’m starting with the third episode. But I’ve been hearing good things from you guys and Alan Sepinwall, and I love Nikki Blonsky anyway, so this sounds like a must-see. […]

It all began with a detailed post by SageAutumn on Livejournal about her showering routine, a “how-to on showering as a big girl.” Drying off water with a towel when you have baby oil on is SUPER easy, all you have to do is pat dry really. But after that, DRY OFF… lay in front […]

1. Some reviews of Huge! Or as The Frisky put it, “Fat People Were On TV And, Whaddya Know, The World Didn’t End.” Entertainment Weekly L.A. Times ABC News MTV STLToday New York Times The Frisky 2. An awesome 18-year-old spent a month following Seventeen magazine dictates and blogging about it, calling it the Seventeen Magazine Project. Her intent […]

When we talked about Huge, a lot of people said they might watch it, so I figured I’d open up a discussion thread for the show! If you’re watching it (or if you watched it already), let us know what you thought!